A World Alone
by Lost in the Mix
Summary: Wherever there's smoke, there'll soon be fire. It was a lesson they'd be forced to learn the hard way, but one they'd never forget. Self-Insert / OC
1. Resurgence

**Disclaimer: Naruto© is a product of Masashi Kishimoto and not of my own creation. The story plot, however, is all of my own.**

Wherever there's smoke, there'll soon be fire. It was a lesson they'd be forced to learn the hard way, but one they'd never forget.

* * *

There wasn't much she remembered of the event that had ultimately led to her death in what she had always thought was Reality. Brief flashbacks of that day came to her when she felt the most vulnerable, always filling her with an unbelievable sense of fear and an indescribable feeling – a strange cross breed of resignation, self-pity, and sadness, for her life had been rather short; a sin in itself if one were to ask her opinion on her death. Like it even mattered.

Even so, Catherine Grace Evans was no more. As soon as her soul had fled her broken body, she had ceased worrying for the future, overwhelmed, instead, with so many regrets of all that she had lost and all that she had left behind. For a length of time, Kate's soul wallowed in quiet misery and despair as she adapted to what she believed to be eternal darkness. Having been led to believe that there was some peace in life after death since she was a small child, the stillness of her surroundings comforted her and perhaps presented her with a single shred of hope that eventually, she would be able to move on and to a better place – that she was meant to transcend to a higher plane.

It was when the twenty-one year old girl's soul finally accepted her death was permanent and when she understood the realization that there would be no 'do-over's' that the atmosphere her soul had resided in for however long began to shake, swirl, and spiral out of control. Without really understanding why, she felt a number of sudden sensations all at once and considering the fact that she was supposedly dead, it felt decidedly odd that the girl felt as if she were being squeezed, suffocated, and seized by what she thought were her inner demons come to collect her for the ultimate judgment.

'_And everyone thought I was joking when I said I was meant for the fiery pits of hell.' _The cynicism did nothing to relieve the phantom pains felt all along the contours of her imaginary body. Had she the ability to sigh in exasperation, Kate surely would have done so in that moment.

Then she heard the loudest popping sound that startled her into a panic, her vision a mess of colors and blurry shapes – it took her all of fifteen seconds to realize she could even _see_, that she could _hear_, that she could _feel._ No sooner had she realized her senses were being overloaded did she feel it. Someone had slapped her on the ass. Righteous indignation filled her and impulsively, she opened her mouth and gave a loud warrior's cry in anger… that sounded much too similar to a newborn's wail, much to her confusion and mounting dread.

Something didn't feel right, she knew that much. But, it was only when she felt herself being cradled against someone's chest and gently caressed by what appeared to be a woman – she wasn't a hundred percent sure it was a woman as her vision was still rather blurry with a mucus of some sort covering part of her face, a constant bright light beaming down on her causing her to squint – she could not understand did Kate allow herself to panic. Logic had failed her.

How else would she have been reborn and so soon after she had passed on from the physical plane? It didn't make any sense at all and seemed like a nightmare come true.

The fear that enveloped her entire being caused her to weep deeply yet the woman who held her tightly never stopped her ministrations, cooing to her to calm her down. Eventually, once she had exhausted herself past the point of no return, Kate drifted off into a fitful sleep, conscious of the fact that she was being held in the arms of a virtual stranger.

* * *

A/N – I admit I've never considered writing a self-insert before. In fact, I used to stay away from stories entirely that focused on 'real people' being inserted into the storyline because a majority of them never did seem too realistic. However, as of recently, I've stumbled upon a few rare gems that have inspired me to attempt to try something new.

My goal is to write a different kind of self-insert. First of all, there will be two people inserted into the Naruto universe as opposed to just one and because of that element, the story will be written in third person. Then, I will attempt to change things up a bit with the two new characters. Not everything is going to be hunky-dory. Every action will have a reaction, and whether the results end up being advantageous or disadvantageous to canon… you'll just have to wait and see. Either way, canon will be no more.

As for chapter lengths, I'm going to say that each chapter will be written anywhere from **600 to 3000 words** depending on how much time I have to spare and if I feel like the chapter should be longer than the norm.

Things might be a little confusing at the beginning, but all will be cleared up in time. For my part, there is always a method to my madness. With that said, please enjoy and if you can, review.


	2. Survivor's Guilt

**Disclaimer: Naruto© is a product of Masashi Kishimoto and not of my own creation. The story plot, however, is all of my own.**

Wherever there's smoke, there'll soon be fire. It was a lesson they'd be forced to learn the hard way, but one they'd never forget.

* * *

Had he been given a choice, perhaps things would have gone differently.

Had he been given a choice, there was a great possibility the mission would have failed; and yet had he been given a choice, his comrades would still be alive to live to see another day. They would still be around to swap stories of missions gone awry and to reminisce of the 'good ole days' when each and every one of them had been ignorant as to what being a ninja truly entailed, of the sacrifices one had to make to put the village and its people first above all else excepting none. There would be no exceptions made, not even for Konoha's White Fang.

Unfortunately for him, he'd been forced to learn of this the hard way. Three lives had been lost, a young man's dreams shattered before he'd been given the opportunity to fulfill his potential, crippled and disfigured instead, barely breathing laid out in a hospital bed; and it hurt to watch him struggle to inhale and exhale, it hurt to watch his family visit him with sorrowful expressions and cold acceptance.

"Was the message delivered?" The Third Hokage had asked him, voice little more than a whisper.

Hatake Sakumo hadn't the heart to meet the elder man's eyes as he thought of his friends, and the guilt weighed heavily upon his shoulders. He stared straight ahead, his face the picture of indifference, voice low and void of any and all emotion as he made to respond. "Hai, Hokage-sama. We were able to successfully deliver the message to the Resistance. A man by the name of Terumī Akinori was the one to meet with us. He thanked us for the message and arranged to send word to the clans under his protection as soon as he is able."

"I see."

"We were attacked towards the end of our meeting, and were forced to take up defense of Terumī-san. Tiger and Horse ended up separated from Monkey, Hawk, and myself. It was under my orders that Monkey protect Terumī-san, while Hawk and I engaged the enemy ninja."

A heavy silence settled over the two men, the elder mulling over all that he had been told thus far, brows knitted together in deep thought. Sakumo chanced a look in his direction, adjusting his mask surreptitiously as he did so. He knew Hiruzen would draw his own conclusions as to what had gone wrong during the battle that had warranted so much death and grief, but the man would perhaps only skim the surface and remain unaware of the betrayal that he had felt deep within his heart.

But try as he might, he could not hate Hawk for disobeying his orders because he knew – had he been given a choice, surely he would have done the same.

"Hokage-sama?" He waited with bated breath for the question to be voiced, uncertain not for the first time as to how he might respond.

A sudden clearing of the throat caused both men to turn towards the source. Sarutobi Biwako greeted them both with narrowed eyes and crossed arms, lips pressed into a thin, white line. Her contemptuous glowers caused Sakumo to stiffen even further, back ramrod straight as he stood before her disapproving gaze. The woman had never failed to intimidate him when he was a child and even now, as a grown man, her gaze was sharp enough to pierce right _through_ him, her words like a slap to the face.

"Forgive me for the intrusion, _Hokage-sama_," she said tersely, dark eyes directed towards the man in question before they veered to the right to hold Sakumo's gaze for what felt like an eternity. As soon as her attention was focused on her husband once more, Sakumo felt instant relief, flinching at the presence of the powerful Killer Intent the woman emitted.

"But I must remind you that this is a hospital and as such, it is not the place to conduct clandestine shinobi business – _especially not in our son's hospital room_."

Suitably chastised even though he had not been directly addressed, Sakumo glanced to his right and drank in the sight of the God of Shinobi. Hiruzen looked as if he had aged another decade with his shoulders slumped in defeat, the few wrinkles underneath his eyes more pronounced than ever before, but the man never once hung his head. Instead he met his wife's gaze, dark brown eyes stern and steady as he wordlessly nodded.

"My most sincere apologies," he said at last, stepping forward to reach out towards the woman. She took a step back and shook her head, motioning towards the figure laid out in bed. A silent conversation passed between the two before Hiruzen sighed and nodded, dismissing Sakumo with a wave of his hand.

"We will go over the details later in my office, Wolf."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama." Sakumo bowed his head, and then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Dirty, calloused hands pressed hard against the newest names carved into the cold marble of the Memorial Stone. A grim smile curled his lips as he noticed Tiger's name had been placed underneath Horse's to honor the power couple they had once been. _Shiranui Yuuma. Shiranui Mutsumi_.

"Always the lucky bastard, you were, Yuuma," a snort ripped its way from his throat. "Even in death, you were able to die with your wife at your side." Not even _he_ had been granted such a blessing.

His own wife had been forced to die alone after giving birth to their son, without him there to hold her hand throughout it all. Her death had hit him the hardest, not only because he had lost the one he loved the most, but because he had been unable to prevent it from happening as he had been away from the village on a mission at the time. His wife had been forced to engage the assassin who had come for him on her own to protect their son from danger.

The enemy fell but had made sure to take Hatake Etsuyo along with him, leaving Kakashi without his mother and Sakumo with a massive void in his heart – a feat he had made sure to avenge in blood.

The man inhaled sharply as he noted the flecks of blood that stained his fingertips a dark burgundy color he was gradually coming to despise, moved his left dominant hand to lightly caress his wife's name before he let it fall to rest at his side as he caught sight of the other name that should have never been engraved into the stone. _Kamizuki Isamu._ The man who had otherwise been known as Hawk when among the hidden, his right-hand man, his teammate, his best friend – the very same man who'd singlehandedly kicked the shit out of him to relieve him of his depression after he'd witnessed him wallowing in misery in the months that followed Etsuyo's death.

Isamu would not be around to shoulder the guilt that crushed him or the grief that humbled him this time around; he would not be around to scold him for the dark path his thoughts had been taking as of late. He would not be around to explain the reasoning behind his actions. Why Isamu had chosen to sacrifice himself and the others to preserve his pitiful existence, Sakumo would never understand. Or perhaps maybe he could.

The mission their squad had been assigned to had been one of great importance to Konoha – one that would, upon its completion, hopefully secure the support of at least one of Kirigakure's prominent clans with the kekkei genkai its people ignorantly and viciously persecuted. With the promise of asylum delivered towards those clans looking to defect rather than stay and risk being wiped out entirely, Isamu had made his choice for the good of the village and its people. No doubt Konoha could only benefit from the Bloody Mist's defectors; it was something that Sakumo grudgingly accepted, but did not approve of as his teammate had thrown his life away in the process.

"You're a selfish man, Isamu." He murmured, but his voice lacked the antipathy he felt.

In his heart, he knew the truth. _He_ was the one who was the selfish bastard.

He was the one who was nothing but a coward of a man because he was not strong enough to put his village before his precious people. He was the one who would have abandoned his duties to save them all at the expense of his reputation and that of his village. Isamu had known. He'd known him well enough to know of his reasons for ordering the retreat, knew of his plans to go after their teammates and use Terumī as a bargaining chip. Let the enemy have at him as long as it would allow Sakumo the opportunity to save his squad. And because of his orders, Sarutobi Yukio would suffer for the rest of his life; the boy's dream of working his way out of his father's shadow and making a name for himself over time all but crushed and with it, both of his legs. Were he to survive – and he would, Sakumo was sure of it – the young man would never be able to walk again.

The reality of it all was that Isamu had done him a favor.

In disobeying his commander's instructions, Isamu had stopped him from dishonoring himself in the eyes of the people he claimed to love so deeply. The pesky bastard had spared him from going against the Shinobi Rules by breaking them himself; he had spared him from becoming the colossal fuck up his actions would have made him out to be to his people. Sakumo could not bring himself to hate his best friend for looking after him, just as he'd always done. He just wished things had been different.

"Tsubame's a wreck," he said, thinking of the deceased man's wife. "Last I heard – she'd gone into labor as soon as she was told of your passing." He only knew because he had been the one to deliver the news to her and had witnessed her reaction firsthand. His cheek still stung from the slap he'd received. It had been well deserved or so he believed, which was the main reason he had not attempted to dodge. The civilian woman had struck him and then fallen to her knees, sobbing from the pain of losing her husband and the contractions she'd begun to feel brought on from the stress of the situation.

"_How dare you be one to survive?"_ She whispered into his neck as he had rushed her to the hospital.

"Your son's coming, dobe, but you won't be here to see his arrival." And what a damn shame it was.

Sakumo had seen how excited his friend had been to learn that he and his wife were expecting for the second time. Thinking of the little girl he'd taken to his home, the silver-haired man slumped forward. Kamizuki Hiyori hadn't spoken a word since he had asked her if she'd like to spend the night with his son while her mother was away. She had taken his hand in hers and simply nodded, wispy bangs shielding protuberant brown eyes from view.

At three years of age, Sakumo was uncertain as to whether or not the girl realized what she had lost and what she would soon gain, though he suspected she knew more than what she was letting on. Death did that to a person, it forced people to grow up faster than what was customary. He wouldn't be surprised if Hiyori could sense all that he had been feeling since his return. That would explain why she had not chattered to him like normal, rambling excitedly about things only a three year old would find fascinating.

"I'll look after them for you," the promise fell from his lips before he had time to register what he'd spoken aloud and when he finally did, he chuckled mirthlessly. Were the tables turned, he had no doubt Isamu would have done the same for his son.

As it was, Kakashi would grow up without his mother or his godfather to guide him with only his father watching his back. Sakumo had not yet decided whether or not that was a good thing.

He only hoped his son would not turn out to be like him someday.

* * *

A/N – I think the only thing I can really apologize for at the moment is the amount of time it took me to get this chapter up. I won't go into too much detail, but school's been my main priority the past couple of months. And so it's been quite the treat to relax during the holiday break and just vegetate on the couch without worrying about assignments that need to be completed yesterday, but I digress.

I can only imagine how confused some of you will be after reading through this chapter, but it _is_ a part of the plot. I can promise you that much. Sakumo will be a major supporting character in this story, so I need him alive to fulfill a specific purpose. Kudos to those who can guess what his purpose will end up being!

The first of the self-insert characters was mentioned briefly in this chapter, but her character won't be formally introduced until next chapter. And as for the second self-insert character, we won't be seeing much of him until later on in the story. Or maybe we will. You'll just have to wait and see.

I'd love to give a shout out to **Crimsonlocket** for being the first to review the story! Thank you so much for reviewing, and hopefully, you'll find the plot line to your liking as the story unfolds.

Other than that, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! If all goes well, I'll definitely have the next chapter written and posted sometime next week. Fingers crossed!


	3. Speculation

**Disclaimer: Naruto© is a product of Masashi Kishimoto and not of my own creation. The story plot, however, is all of my own.**

Wherever there's smoke, there'll soon be fire. It was a lesson they'd be forced to learn the hard way, but one they'd never forget.

* * *

Hiyori had not cried when she was told her father would not be coming home like he'd promised before he left in the middle of the night. She thought nothing of the intensity of the stares, her mother anticipating some sort of hysterical reaction from her tiny form as soon as she was able to grasp the meaning behind the words. Yet the little girl did not meet those expectations.

She did not dissolve into tears, fall to her knees and let out heart-wrenching sobs, cursing the gods with everything in her for blindsiding her with such potent feelings of loss, hopelessness, and anguish. She did not mirror her mother's reaction at all, which was surprising to bear witness to. Instead the little girl had remained mute, nodded in acknowledgement, and quietly padded from the room, the screen door shutting softly behind her to signify she had ventured outside into the yard.

Tsubame almost felt as if her daughter was too young to understand – that the significance of _death_ was way beyond her comprehension skills. She was only three years of age and that fact alone was enough to dissuade the civilian woman from relaying to the girl what she had been told of her husband's passing. And though she was not a shinobi and had never once thought to take up the profession, did not view the ninja arts with reverence as some villagers tended to – that did not necessarily mean Tsubame felt comfortable with being told so little of what had _really_ gone on despite the fact Isamu had been ANBU and she did not have the clearance to know of what went on in the shadows. She never would, but she didn't care.

Most shinobi tended to think the less civilians were told, the better and whereas she had once agreed that the truth could be a dangerous thing given the situation – the time had come for her to second guess herself. She was smart enough to understand her husband's death was the catalyst for this startling new change to the way she thought things through.

She wanted – no, _needed_ to know the details to assuage her own morbid curiosity on the matter, and so that she would be able to take the time to formulate an appropriate explanation to give to her children when they were old enough to question her for answers. It was better for her to be prepared for that day rather than to fly by the seat of her pants like her husband had been known for doing in his line of work. He'd always been rather lucky when it came to missions, but as it was, it seemed to her as if the man's luck had finally run out.

Maybe Izumo might not be interested in investigating the death of a man he would never come to know, but Hiyori… with Hiyori, there would always be a great possibility her daughter would want to know what had happened to the man she'd clung to from the moment she could walk, the very same man she emulated through her mannerisms, sense of humor, and in the way she seemed to marvel at the world around her.

At only a month old, Tsubame could already tell her son was a mixture of herself and her late husband.

From examining his features carefully, she had already spotted Isamu's chin and cheekbones, her nose and the shape of her lips. Taking in his appearance did not strike her with waves of melancholy like it did when she looked to her baby girl. Hiyori was the spitting image of her father with only one characteristic of hers she'd inherited – her eyes. Protuberant and almond-shaped, brown orbs looked from face to face with an intelligence Tsubame found endearing and yet decidedly odd as there were moments when the civilian woman felt like her daughter was beyond her three years. Her reaction or lack thereof to the news of her father's death only solidified the suspicion, but the woman made no attempt to pry. She did not have the heart to do so.

"_Everyone reacts differently to the death of a loved one,"_ she had to remind herself. There was always a possibility that this was her baby's way of coping with it, nothing to be too worried about. No matter how much it truly irked her.

Even so, Tsubame resolved to learn of just what her husband's last mission had been and where things had gone to hell in a hand basket. She fiercely held to the belief that she had a right to know the truth, and was ready to use what little exploration skills she had to scrounge up some of the more gruesome details. Attaining some form of closure would be worth it, she thought. Isamu had always been worth the trouble.

* * *

A/N – Remember when I said I would post the next chapter next week? Heh, I do. Turns out you guys won't have to wait until next week for this one. Yaaay! Consider this my gift to you for feeling the need to read through what little I've posted thus far even if it _is_ a bit abstract at the moment.

I know I said Hiyori would be formally introduced in this chapter, but I've decided to push it to next chapter. Tsubame has her significant role to fill. For the moment, it would seem like the civilian woman has set herself up for failure with the daunting task ahead of her. It's not as if she can just waltz into ANBU Headquarters and demand to see her husband's final mission report. And before you ask, she only knew her husband was an ANBU agent because of his tattoo. Isamu didn't tell her upfront, but he didn't necessarily refuse when she asked about it either. She was his wife, so he told her what he thought she needed to know and probably sugar-coated almost everything else.

Shout out to my two lovely reviewers, **HAL23** and **Crimsonlocket**! And to answer Crimsonlocket's question – there is a great possibility that the two SI may know each other. Maybe not particularly in the Naruto-verse or at least not yet, but in the past… There is also a great possibility that they might have different opinions on what to do regarding the timeline, so I suppose you could say they could very well trip each other up in their attempts to shake things up. And that's all I'll say for now. ;)


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